Committing to specific digital tactics can be difficult for marketers.

There are so many different approaches that it can be tempting to
continually swipe left in search of something better.

Every digital marketer who wants to improve the effectiveness and
efficiency of their efforts should learn to love these seven key tactics:

1. Fast-loading mobile content

While search engines have been coy in the past about what they wanted, this
year they’ve been transparent about one SEO approach that’s sure to work:
fast-loading mobile content.

Google has
openly stated
that it’s going to roll out changes to its algorithm in 2018 that
incorporate mobile page speed as a ranking signal.

There are nuances to this move—the “Speed Update” initially only impacts a
small number of queries—but the message is clear: Consumers are shifting to
mobile, and they demand pages that load quickly. Search engines are going
to give them what they want, and marketers should follow suit or risk
losing rank and traffic.

Digital marketers are often wary of online reviews, and understandably so.
Positive online feedback and favorable ratings can be the wind beneath your
wings, while negative ones can come in like a wrecking ball.

Despite this ambivalence, it’s become essential for every brand to monitor
and manage its online reviews.

Customers across all verticals increasingly look at reviews—and trust them.
Some 97 percent
of consumers say they check the online reviews of local businesses and
67 percent of B2B buyers
say they check vendor reviews.

Audiences are going to utilize reviews and ratings whether you want them to
or not, so you’re better off being engaged than pretending it’s not
happening.

3. Data and privacy protection

For too long, digital marketers have taken personal data for granted,
enjoying the benefits without securing it properly or thinking too much
about privacy.

That’s going to change.

In May, Europe’s far-reaching
GDPR regulations
go into effect, creating strict boundaries around what companies can do
with people’s personal information with heavy fines for non-compliance.

While the regulations won’t directly affect most U.S. businesses, they’re a
clear sign that many consumers are unhappy with how their data is being
treated by firms. Rather than waiting for this frustration to rise to the
surface, be proactive and give your brand’s privacy policies and data
protection approaches some attention.

4. Online chatbots

Online chatbots may not sound like the sexiest use of artificial
intelligence, but they’re currently among the most mature and compelling
uses of the technology.

Some
15 percent of consumers say
they’ve already encountered chatbots and that number is expected to jump
significantly over the next few years.

What’s driving this adoption? Consumers say they like
chatbots for a number of reasons, including their constant accessibility,
fast response times and ability to quickly answer questions.

The benefits for brands are impressive, too. Chatbots enable continuous
customer service, marketing engagement and sales promotion without
maintaining a huge staff. That combination of big scale and small cost is
why every brand should think about embracing chatbots this year.

5. Voice-driven interactions

Talking has always been the foundation of human communication; it’s
increasingly also how people interact with their devices.

Nearly every smartphone has a voice-activated virtual assistant (such as
Siri) built in and the number of voice-assisted devices, such as Amazon’s
Echo, is expected to reach 69 million in the United States by 2019.

This trend has the potential to affect digital marketing across a wide
range of areas, from how pages are optimized for search (more for natural
language queries) to the way in which content is presented (audio
friendly).

While the full impact of the shift is still hard to know, what’s certain is
that communicators should be preparing for more voice-driven interactions.

6. Messaging platform engagement

When it comes to digital channels, marketers often ignore messaging
platforms and are seduced by social networks, which get more buzz.

That’s a mistake.

Over the past few years, messaging services have been steadily growing
their user bases and some now eclipse established social platforms such as
Twitter in size. For example, Facebook Messenger and WhatsApp each
have
more than 1.2 billion monthly users and WeChat has nearly 900 million.

In addition to building their user bases, these platforms have also been
adding features such as sponsorship opportunities and branded accounts,
making them not only robust communication tools, but also powerful
advertising and customer engagement channels. Marketers should take a good
look at the full range of opportunities on these platforms; they may be
surprised at what they’re missing.

7. Branded video pieces

Many marketers have a difficult relationship with video. While in their
hearts they know the medium has its advantages, they also have their doubts
about the cost and time required to create something great.

They should stick with it.

A recent study
of the content preferences of different generations found that consumers of
every age find video to be the most memorable format, and more than half of
consumers age 54 and younger want to see more videos from brands.

In other words, consumers like video content from brands, remember it, and
want to see more of it. Though branded video requires a larger investment,
it can also have a larger payoff.

All of these approaches require hard work to execute correctly. That effort
may not feel worth it initially, but ultimately you may find yourself
falling in love with each of these tactics.

Michael Del Gigante is the founder of MDG Advertising, a full-service
advertising agency with a leading reputation for developing effective
branding strategies. A version of this article originally appeared on
the MDG blog.